31/05/2010

With a huge model in place at the studio, I had to start using it right away. It can be a bit intimidating to have a new model, nice and clean, having spent weeks making it perfect, and you don't really know where to go from there. I therefore invited some friends over and bought a bag of beers, hoping to get a kick start in messing it up.

Before....

Everyone took out a section or two to play with...

...and things started to happen.

In the end, we tried putting it all together again.

...and after

The final result, might look a bit different from this, but at least I have a bunch of ideas and inspiration, and the model is a lot more approachable.

28/05/2010

I have spent the past few weeks on the faculty's wood workshop making a Praca de Touros Model Kit.

It took me a while to find out how to build it in a way that makes it flexible enough to work with and precise enough to work as a presentation model at the end of the semester.I ended up building it in separate sections in a way that I can easily remove and work with one section at a time and put it back afterwards.

I am building the model in 1:50 scale. This is quite big, but it will come in handy when i start working with the spaces inside the structure. Making a model like this also helps me to get familiar with the structure and the construcion.

26/05/2010

The preliminary study is a document used to define and specify the objectives of the thesis.

It is supposed to answer questions like:What am I doing?Why am I doing it?How am I doing it?Who am I doing it for?Why is that important?

My preliminary study starts of a short presentation of my objectives and intentions.

This is followed by an introducion to Mozambican geography, history, culture and climate.

At the end of the document I am describing how I am working with this task, what I will produce and the methods I will use to produce it.

The preliminary work is going to help me to make choises during my work, acting as compass and a guideline. It will also be an introduction to the thesis for the critics, and a tool to check if the project is responding to the objective.

25/05/2010

I am officially back in Trondheim again, and here is a small glimpse of the city, for those of you who don't know it.

the characteristic pier houses along Nidelven river and the Western Canalwere originally built on wooden pillars. This part of the city was in danger of being torn down in the 70's, when a new highway through Trondheim was planned, but is now a popular area packed with cafés, small designer shops and appartments.

a newly built shopping mall in the pedestrian street, showing off it's timber contruction

The historical city center consisted mainly of timber houses. As a result of this, numerous fires the past years has cleared out centrally located lots, giving room for contemporary architecture.

upriver view from the Flower Bridge at Nyhavne (the New Docks)

The past decades the city centre of Trondheim has expanded north. Old mechanic workshop areas has been trensformed into shopping centres, restaurants and concert stages. Appartment blocks are also popping up in this area.

appartment blocks at nyhavna

appartment area at Lademoen in the northern oustskirt of the city center

10/05/2010

I would probably have to spend years in Maputo and Mozambique to really get to know the country, the city, the culture and the people. But at least I got four fully packed weeks - a crash course in the Maputo way - and I feel that I will be able to work out a project based on what I have learned, seen and experienced.

Thanks a lot to all of you who have helped me during this field trip. I'll see you next time for a preta and some mafora.

About Me

This blog is where I, day by day, log, think and work my way through my master thesis in architecture at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The project consists of designing a combined arts, dance and music school in Maputo, Mozambique.
I started this blog while I was doing an intensive four week field work in Maputo, from the 27th of january until the 24th of february. Now I am back in Trondheim, working out the project.